Fig. 3

iNOS immunoreactivity in parenchymal microglia of the FC of rats in control conditions (P-CMS-), after periodontitis induction (P + CMS-), after chronic mild stress exposure (P-CMS+), and after both protocols combined (P + CMS+). Immunofluorescence of Iba1 (red), iNOS (green), and 4′,6-diamidino-2-phenylindole dihydrochloride (DAPI) in nuclei (blue) was performed in representative images of 30 mm-thick sections of rat brain FC from the P-CMS- (A), P + CMS- (B), P-CMS+ (C), and P + CMS+ (D) groups. Arrowheads indicate representative cells. Quantitative analysis of iNOS expression in Iba1 + cells (E). The data are presented as the means ± SEMs of 34–36 microglia per group. ***p < 0.001. Kruskal‒Wallis test with Dunn´s post hoc test. Scale bars = 20 μm